What Could Possibly Go Wrong

Scientists plan to launch thousands of GM ‘Frankenflies’ into fields

"Thousands of GM insects developed by British scientists are set to be the first released into fields in Europe as an alternative to chemical pesticides. The plan is to release a large number of genetically modified olive flies that would be used to kill off wild pests that damage the crop. The technology is the brainchild of experts at British company Oxitec, who insist the GM insects are better for the environment that spraying crops with chemical pesticides. The Oxitec chief executive, Hadyn Parry, accused critics of the technology who warn of danger to health and the environment of scaremongering." Continue reading →

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Grid Down Acapulco: “There’s Nothing to Eat”

“Though the government would like us to believe there is rarely looting or panic in the aftermath of a disaster, the fact of the matter is that within 72 hours of any serious crisis people will lose it.  Case in point: Acapulco, Mexico.  … Continue reading →

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France’s interior minister says Syria militants pose national security threat

"France’s interior minister revealed Thursday that hundreds of homegrown Islamist militants were signing up to fight in Syria and warned they could pose a security threat when they come back. More than 300 French nationals or residents are either currently fighting in Syria’s civil war, planning to go and fight or have recently returned from there, the minister, Manuel Valls, told France Inter radio. Most of them were young men, often with a delinquent past, who had become radicalised, he said. 'This is a phenomenon which worries me because they represent a potential danger when they return to our soil,' Valls said. 'We have to be extremely attentive.'" Continue reading →

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Syria rebels fracturing as the Free Syrian Army condemns jihadists

"On Friday, after ISIS seized the northern border town of Azaz, the opposition National Coalition for the first time publicly condemned attacks by jihadists. 'The Coalition condemns the aggressions against the forces of the Syrian revolution and the repeated disregard for the lives of Syrians, and considers that this behaviour runs contrary to the Syrian revolution and the principles it is striving to achieve,' it said, after ISIS seized Azaz on the border with Turkey from FSA hands. Problems between the FSA and ISIS are not only over control, but also about vision. While the FSA is fighting to establish a democratic state in Syria, the aim of ISIS is to create and rule over an Islamic state." Continue reading →

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Pricing Glitch Afflicts Rollout of Online Health Exchanges

"Less than two weeks before the launch of insurance marketplaces created by the federal health overhaul, the government's software can't reliably determine how much people need to pay for coverage, according to insurance executives and people familiar with the program. Government officials and insurers were scrambling to iron out the pricing quirks quickly to avoid alienating the initial wave of consumers. A failure by consumers to sign up online in the hotly anticipated early days of the 'exchanges' is worrisome to insurers, which are counting on enrollees for growth, and to the Obama administration, which made the exchanges a centerpiece of its sweeping health-care legislation." Continue reading →

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Complying With U.S. Tax Evasion Law Is Vexing Foreign Banks

"Financial institutions, trade groups, scholars and members of Congress have raised an array of concerns, starting with the cost of creating the complex computer systems needed to track Americans’ accounts. In addition, tax havens like China, Panama and Russia have yet to sign on. And American banks are unhappy about a Treasury Department pledge to foreign banks, not part of the original law, to require American financial institutions to share data with other countries about foreign investors who have accounts in the United States." Continue reading →

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Why the Higher Education System Is Unsustainable (i.e. Doomed)

"That which is unaffordable is unsustainable and will go away. The current system of higher education is profoundly unaffordable: it exists on an immoral foundation of student debt--$560 billion of which is Federal. Enormous expansions of student debt are required to keep the current system of higher education afloat. This chart shows the insane trajectory of Federal student debt. But unaffordability is only one reason why the present system of higher education is unsustainable. Despite the good intentions and hard work of individuals, these systems are broken. Due to their size and structure, large systems such as national defense, healthcare and education limit the impact of individual initiative." Continue reading →

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The Path to $10,000 an Ounce Gold, Revisited

"Most traders, obsessed with the tiniest tweaks to the monthly rate of Fed printing, are missing the big picture: Credit growth has outpaced the economy’s productive potential, both here and around the globe. Each successive growth spurt in money and credit has a weaker marginal impact on the real economy; this requires permanently easy monetary policy, and perhaps, eventually, a formal devaluation of paper against gold. In his latest Gloom Boom & Doom Report, Marc Faber argues that the Fed has lost control of the bond market. Treasury note yields have doubled from the summer 2012 lows — a development that surely wasn’t part of the Fed’s stimulus playbook." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Path to $10,000 an Ounce Gold, Revisited